EF3 tornado, Boyette to Ethel, Mississippi, January 1, 2011

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. EF186 to 110 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mph

   Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

4. EF3136 to 165 mphthis tornado

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. EF5over 200 mph

   Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

7. Unrated

   The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Rating

EF3

Date

January 1, 2011

Touchdown

12:02 AM CST (06:02 UTC)

Lifted

12:26 AM CST (06:26 UTC)

On the ground

24 minutes

Path length

23.4 miles (37.7 km)

Path width

1,300 yards (1189 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

2

Property damage

$3.0 million

Crop damage

$2,000,000

County

Attala County

Touchdown point

33.039, -89.812

Lift-off point

33.221, -89.470

Record number

1101010002-01

A potent storm system brought a prolonged outbreak of severe thunderstorms to the Lower Mississippi Valley region from the afternoon hours of New Years Eve lasting through the morning hours of New Years Day. This rare combination of high instability and wind shear is mainly what supported the large outbreak that included multiple strong tornadoes. National Weather Service storm survey teams found 11 total tornadoes that occurred during this event. Of the 11, two were EF-3 and two were EF-2. Six were EF-1 with one EF-0. Damaging straight line winds also brought down numerous trees and large limbs across the area. Large hail also occurred during the event with reports ranging from quarter to golf ball size. In addition, flash flooding was a significant issue across the area. Roads were flooded in several locations, some vehicles were submerged in flood waters, and a few evacuations took place as a result of rising flood waters.

The tornado began in the vicinity of State Highway 12, east southeast of Durant. The tornado moved roughly east-northeast, initially producing damage of EF1 intensity to trees, and damaging the roof of at least one home. As the tornado approached State Highway 19, it intensified and began causing extensive tree damage, snapping and uprooting hundreds of trees. After crossing Highway 19, it caused extensive damage to a church conference center, heavily damaging the roof of the main church building and causing major damage to several camp buildings. In this area, the tornado also caused significant roof damage to several homes and destroyed a number of outbuildings. From here, the tornado continued east northeast, continuing to cause major tree damage as it crossed state Highway 35 at Hesterville. As a wide, strong tornado moving through a heavily forested area, this tornado was a major destroyer of timber, snapping or uprooting thousands of trees. The tornado eventually weakened and dissipated to the north of Ethel. There were two injuries north northeast of the Sallis Community. Additionally, several vehicles were damaged near Sallis. Maximum winds were around 145 mph.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

23 minutes of warning. NWS JAN issued a tornado warning for this county at 05:39 UTC, 23 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 06:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 05:02 UTC and running to 08:39 UTC.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:42 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

The Jackson/Brandon,MS radar (KDGX), 100 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 06:03 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2011 tornado in MississippiEvery tornado in Mississippi since 1950Warnings in force in Mississippi nowThe forecast where you are

6 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.